This trail is not for acrophobics or the faint of heart! Located on the hairpin curve of Huitouwan bus stop, approximately 6 km up from TienHisung lies the Meiyuan-Jutsuen Trail. This trail shares its first leg with the comparatively more popular Lienhuachih (Lotus Lake trail).

For an inspiring one day hike that is breathtaking in all senses of the word -- there is no better place than Lienhuachi (Lotus Lake). The trail starts on the hairpin corner of Huitouwan, about 6 kilometers west of Tienhsiang -- sharing the first leg with the arduous Zhutsuen trail.

Summer time is the most popular period for traveling along the east coast of the island. Along the 167-kilometer-long Tai No.11 Highway from Hualien to Taitung, you will be accompanied by the blue Pacific Ocean, beautiful sunshine and green mountains all the way.

Located but one kilometer from Taroko National Park Headquarters is the majestic Shakadang trail. Previously known as Shen Mi Ku or Mysterious Valley, the trail underwent a name-change in February of 2001. The term Shakadang comes from the Sedik (Taroko Atayal) word for molar.

When Taiwan was ceded to the Japanese with the conclusion of the Sino-Japanese War in 1895, officials and administrators were sent from Japan to Taiwanese cities and counties to administer the populace. The Ilan homes were built in 1906 for the Ilan County magistrate.

The National Museum of Prehistory has a simple and accidental origin. Although still in its infancy as it just opened to the public in 2001, it is already making a ripple as Taiwan's first world-class museum of archaeology.

A gong beats. Instruments sore. The actors on a brightly lit stage sing. The opera begins. In this opera, however, there are no obese tenors belting out soaring Italian arias. The words, songs and the performance are all uniquely Taiwanese.